Cold Start (procedures)

Cold Starting is a term used to refer to the act of using the Fuel cell or Battery to heat up the Reactor so that it may be able to start reactions to produce energy. The steps to cold starting in the software are below.

Conditions

Cold start should be initiated under the following conditions:

• During Preflight

Procedure

1. Open the Engineering Software
2. Select Cold Start	c + Enter

Habitat

1. Activate Fuel Cell Injector
2. Connect Fuel Cell to Bus2
3. Connect RCON-1 to Bus1
4. Connect Bus2 to TRN
5. Connect Bus1 to TRN
6. Charge Reactor Containment to 2000As
7. Disconnect RCON-1 from Bus1
LOOP
8. Connect Reactor Heater
9. Continue until Fuel Cell temp >= 110C
10. Connect BAT to Bus2
11. Continue until BAT temp >= 80C
12. Disconnect Reactor Heater
13. Wait until Fuel Cell Temp <=80C
14. Repeat LOOP until Reactor Temp=80C OR Reactor Containment < 100As
END LOOP
15. Activate Reactor Injectors
16. Disconnect Fuel Cell and Battery from Bus2
17. Deactivate Fuel Cell Injector

AYSE

1. Connect battery to bus
2. Connect reactor heater (TEMP) to bus
3. Heat reactor to 80 centigrade (Glowing)
4. Turn on reactor injectors
5. Turn off battery

Physics

Nuclear fusion is a high temperature process, and the reactor must be warmed before nuclear reactions can commence. As the reactions begin, it is essential that the reactors are shielded to prevent the astronauts from being irradiated. During the heating process, the reactor is unable to supply any power, so we must use the fuel cell to power both the reactor's shields and the heater.